Home5G & BeyondSwiss 5G auction exceeds revenue expectations

Swiss 5G auction exceeds revenue expectations

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British would-be market entrant, Dense Air, pulled out of the bidding.

The Swiss government today announced it raised CHF380 million (Swiss francs โ€“ about โ‚ฌ334 million) from its 5G spectrum auction.

Swisscom, Sunrise Communications and Salt, which is privately owned, all successfully bid for spectrum. The auction had been expected to raise about CHF220 million Swiss.

Blocks of frequencies in the 700MHz, 1400MHz, 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz ranges were up for grabs. The spectrum licences will last 15 years.

Big francs

Swisscom spent the most at CHF195.5 million, buying 46% of the frequencies on offer. It noted, โ€œThe bid of CHF196 million is viewed as exceptional and was not included in the capital investments of around CHF2.3 billion projected for 2019โ€.

It acquired 2ร—15 on 700MHz, 50 on 1400MHz and 120 on 3500MHz blocks.

The countryโ€™s biggest operator added, โ€œBy the end of 2019, it is expected that 5G will have been successively rolled out to 60 Swiss towns and communities, providing customers with faster response times, higher speeds and greater capacity.โ€

Below the salt?

Salt invested CHF94.5 million for 2ร—10 MHz of 700 MHz FDD spectrum as well as 10 MHz of 1,400 MHz SDL spectrum and 80 MHz of 3.5 GHz TDD spectrum. Its CEO, Pascal Grieder, said, โ€œWe are extremely satisfied with the outcomeโ€.

Sunrise spent CHF89.2 million on spectrum and announced it has gained, โ€œThe best frequencies for โ€˜5G for Peopleโ€™ and Switzerlandโ€™s leading 5G networkโ€. It won spectrum in what it called โ€œthe strategically most important frequencies in the 3.5 MHz bandโ€.